Classics & Contemporary Book Discussion

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Join us to discuss The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.

Here is the story of the Iliad as we’ve never heard it before: in the words of Briseis, Trojan queen and captive of Achilles. Given only a few words in Homer’s epic and largely erased by history, she is nonetheless a pivotal figure in the Trojan War. In these pages she comes fully to life: wry, watchful, forging connections among her fellow female prisoners even as she is caught between Greece’s two most powerful warriors. Her story pulls back the veil on the thousands of women who lived behind the scenes of the Greek army camp—concubines, nurses, prostitutes, the women who lay out the dead—as gods and mortals spar, and as a legendary war hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion. Brilliantly written, filled with moments of terror and beauty, The Silence of the Girls gives voice to an extraordinary woman—and makes an ancient story new again. (From the publisher)

Copies of the book are available here. Ebook and eaudiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app. 

For those who would like to purchase a copy of The Silence of the Girls, please support our local independent bookstore, The Book Stall at 811 Elm Street in Winnetka.

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